76 Field and Forest Rambles, 



surmises, the red fox came from Europe, I opine the original 

 individuals must have been unusually cunning, or else Rey- 

 nard has been greatly molested since, inasmuch as trappers 

 state that scarcely anything will induce him to enter a trap ; 

 accordingly the majority are poisoned by strychnine, which is 

 said to materially injure the skin, causing the hair to fall out 

 during the process of tanning. 



The repugnance of one species to breed with another closely 

 allied in form and habits may be the reason why black or white 

 varieties do not continue to propagate, the individual being 

 thus driven to lead a life of celibacy. Looking, for example, 

 at an albino blackbird or a black fox, and bearing in mind 

 what has just been stated, and that even although the voice and 

 habits are the same, and the animal associates with its species ; 

 still, the very decided difference as regards outward appearance 

 would be sufficient to forbid intercourse between it and the 

 typical individual. I have for many years noted carefully all 

 information I could obtain from personal observation and reli- 

 able sources with reference to albinism and melanism in 

 wild animals, and as far as I have been enabled to make out 

 the occurrence seems to be accidental, and often happens only 

 in single individuals, or to one in a brood of birds ; but there 

 are evidently exceptions. I was shown by Colonel Otty, of 

 the New Brunswick Militia, a specimen of an albino Ruffed 

 Grouse from a covey similarly marked, all having red eyes 

 and white plumage, excepting a shade of the original colour 

 on the back and flanks. And Mr. Boardman informed me that 

 he had often seen similar individuals, and states that an albino 

 of the Migratory Thrush and Rusty Grackle is also of common 

 occurrence: both birds, be it observed, are highly gregarious, 

 and very plentiful in the localities they frequent. But in no 

 instance in his long experience did he observe them pairing. 

 The differences, however, between pied and slight varieties and 

 decided black or white sorts are often so gradual, that in the 

 slighter cases we might well suppose that the abnormalities 



